Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Review - Short Order Heroes (Kickstarter promo)

Short Order Heroes is a rules light game designed for easy role-playing. It is a deck of 54 cards that can also be used for spontaneous NPC generation in any RPG. All card art by Eleanor Ferron.

How it WorksIn a word:fast. Each card has a picture, an adjective, and a number.To create a new character, draw some cards from the deck, depending on how fleshed-out you want the character to be -- we recommend 3 for PCs, down to 1 for throw-away NPCs. The adjectives describe what makes your character unusual. Fill in the details and off you go.To resolve a conflict, first set a target number or draw one randomly from the deck -- higher is harder. Then draw a card. The number on the card tells you whether the action succeeded, the adjective gives some color to how, and the picture provides added inspiration.To enhance other games, the cards can quickly add personality to otherwise bland encounters -- "Thug #2" is now "The unnerving thug", the barmaid is complicated, and more. Great for tavern trawling or adding a bit of local color.

With Short Order Heroes, you spend less time fiddling with the rules and more time telling the story. Character creation and conflict resolution take seconds, and instantly fill your game world with color and flair. Short Order Heroes is an entire role-playing game in a pack of cards. It's perfect for one-shot adventures where you don't want to spend all night making characters and miss playing the game.

I was sent a 54 card promo deck, and let me tell you, I'm fairly impressed with it, and how useful it could be.
Now I doubt I would use it as a low-rules system, but I know for a fact, I will be using it for the italicized use. Nothing is easier for fleshing out an NPC than throwing a card down to determine what their personality is. If they're a random NPC, no reason to have to figure out how they think when you toss a card and bam, instant imagery and play style.

The deck was nice for a promo deck, and if the quality is as good or better than this you'll be getting a deck that will last for quite a while.Since I run a lot of games at conventions, I know I will most likely get lots of play out of this promo deck.

Also, since the kickstarter is already over $4k, the deck is going to be 90 cards, and if it hits over $6k. There will be a 36 card expansion on top of that. So if this sounds like something you want to jump in on, well jump on in.

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Welcome to Epic! The RPG Blog

This blog is about the journey of the family with gaming, seeing the journey through the eyes of my 17 year old twins. (We started this endeavor when they were 11) Ian and Sean. The blog is also about our relation as a gaming family.

In the blog you will find the boys interviewing people who are gamers, from Ross Thompson, who started Kingdom Con, to game designers, players, and regular game masters, who knows we might even get some famous people to submit to interro...errr...an interview.

The epic twins and myself will also be reviewing games (some day....); RPGs, board games, card games, etc. We will give them ratings based upon ease of age suitability, play, replay, cost, and fun. I want these reviews to be helpful for other parents and kids to understand the family perspective on a game. Primarily I'm writing the reviews, the boys will be posting smaller kid-related reviews in the future.

If I'm missing a game or local store that you'd like to see, send me an email at EpicRPGBlog@gmail.comwith ATTN: Epic Prime in the subject line. Also, if there's a product you'd like me to review, contact me.

Recently I have shifted to cover more games I enjoy and they have gone with their own endeavors.

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Ronald Tilton is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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